Rep. Steve Cohen goes to the mat with TV's Ventura over "Conspiracy Theory"

WASHINGTON -- Memphis Rep. Steve Cohen responded Tuesday to a television exposé by former pro wrestler and ex-Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura that suggests the federal government is planning to house "ordinary citizens" in concentration camps.

Ventura aired the allegations on his "Conspiracy Theory" show on the truTV network on Nov. 12, and the episode has since gone viral on YouTube and across the Internet.

Cohen, a co-sponsor of a bill that would create FEMA camps for people temporarily displaced by hurricanes or a potential Mid-South earthquake, sat for an interview with Ventura in his Capitol Hill office on Sept. 16. Parts of that interview are reproduced in the segment.

In an op-ed in the newspaper Roll Call Tuesday, Cohen writes that, "when the media purposely distort the facts to create confusion and mislead people, they must be held accountable. Unless we actively debunk false and misleading reports, we risk leaving the public with a dangerously skewed vision of this country."

The "Conspiracy Theory" episode shows Ventura sleuthing through Washington after seeing what Cohen writes are an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Texas and a low-security federal prison in California, both sheathed in razor wire.

"Now I've seen enough evidence," Ventura tells his audience. "I want to know why our congressmen think we need prison camps for ordinary citizens. They put it right in a Congressional bill."

The bill Ventura refers to, H.R. 645, would establish six "national emergency centers" on military bases for temporary housing and to coordinate emergency responses to natural disasters if it ever becomes law. Cohen notes in his opinion piece that the legislation hasn't even made it out of a subcommittee. And the current Congress will adjourn within weeks, if not days.

After images of Holocaust victims wearing Stars of David and jack-booted policemen beating people in the streets, Ventura concludes the episode with a strident apotheosis. "They said it couldn't happen here, but it already is happening," he says.

Cohen says that Ventura's claim that the bill he co-sponsored would create FEMA-run concentration camps "is an outrageous distortion and an outright lie," as well as "dangerous and irresponsible."

He also describes himself as "shocked and appalled" the Turner Broadcasting System and Time Warner would air a program "so full of inaccuracies and irresponsible distortions."

Misty Skedgell, a Turner spokesman, described "Conspiracy Theory" as an "entertainment program that appears on an entertainment network."

"We believe most viewers accept 'Conspiracy Theory' for what it is -- a series that expresses different views on conspiracies."